EDIA in the R Project

Heather Turner
RSE Fellow, University of Warwick

September 3, 2024

Background

The R Contribution Working Group was set up in July 2020

to foster a larger, more diverse community of contributors to the R Project

How have we integrated EDIA in our work?

Kick-off meeting

Gathered >25 people

  • R Project leaders: R Core, R Foundation
  • EDIA-focused orgs: Forwards, R Consortium Diversity & Inclusion Group
  • Affinity groups: R-Ladies, RUG Buenos Aires
  • External experts: Women on Python Core

Impact: identified problems, prioritised tasks, shaped our approach

Collaboration Campfires

Code for Science & Society Digital Infrastructure Incubator funded Saranjeet Kaur Bhogal

  • Designed for newbies
    • Reviewed with community champions
  • Targeted outreach to people from underrepresented groups (URG)
    • Slacks/social media
    • Social media followers
    • Podcast

Translation

  • Translating message strings
    • Low barrier to contribution
    • Relevant to underserved regions
  • Space for people to take ownership
    • Translation teams
    • LatinR hackathons

LatinR 2023 Translation Space

Developer Events

  • R Project Sprint 2023
    • Fully funded places
    • Targeted outreach
  • Developer Days
    • At conferences
    • Leveraging existing travel support

Distribution of participants at R Project Sprint 2023

RainbowR

Relaunch led by Ella Kaye in 2022

  • Dedicated time under RSE fellowship
  • Built community
    • leadership team
    • more, varied activities
    • new branding
  • A new partner for RCWG

Summary

  • Consult widely
  • Meet people where they are
  • Target outreach at group and individual level
  • Collaborate with people from URG
  • Let people from URG lead and take ownership
  • Fund where possible!